The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for selecting a destination in a vehicle navigation system. More specifically, a vehicle navigation system designed according to the present invention maintains a destination selection history of the destinations most recently selected by the user and allows global searching for specific destinations across destination categories.
If the user of a vehicle navigation system is visiting a large metropolitan area with which she is not familiar, she is likely to need guidance from the navigation system each time she drives the vehicle in that area. Each time the user requests such guidance, she will have to step through the system's destination selection process, often repeating the same steps over and over again. For example, the user will need to designate the city within which she is traveling each time route guidance is desired. In particularly large cities, the same city is likely to be selected each time. The repetition of this step is inefficient and can become a source of irritation for the user.
In some currently available vehicle navigation systems, attempts have been made to avoid this inefficiency by making it easier for a user to select a previously selected destination. For example, according to one system, when the user is prompted to designate the city within which route guidance is desired the display cursor position is automatically placed on the most recently selected city. According to another system, the cursor is automatically placed on the city in which the vehicle is presently located. In each of these cases, if the highlighted city is the one for which guidance is currently needed, the user need only press enter to select the city.
However, some large metropolitan areas comprise many different cities. In such areas, if the user desires to travel between several of these cities, the above-described solutions provide no benefit. A vehicle navigation system is therefore desirable which allows a user to select from a plurality of previously selected destinations.